Best of the 2010 L.A. Auto Show

There weren't a ton of standouts in the City of Angels this year, but these were our favorites.

The 2010 L.A. auto show brought us more real, solid debuts than pie-in-the-sky concepts, and that’s fine by us. Although our list includes one fantasymobile, it’s a delight to see the industry rolling out cars that marry the power or features we want with the fuel economy we legally require. Read on for our favorites, and be sure to check out our full L.A. coverage for the details on all the show debuts.

GM's luxury brand isn’t quite ready to launch a city car, but that didn’t stop it from exploring the possibilities with the Urban Luxury Concept. With a tiny, 97.1-inch wheelbase—the same as the Mini Cooper’s—this four-seat Caddy shows how well the brand’s Art and Science styling can translate even to an urban scooter. Scissors doors are the go-to showstopper for snazzy concept cars, and although manufacturers tout their potential functionality for tight parking spaces, we still love them for their space-age aesthetic.

Going from zero to hero, Dodge’s latest Durango keeps what we liked about the old truck—the powerrrr, a right-sized way to haul seven people—and ditches the lumpy looks and low-rent interior. The Durango has moved from a truck-based body-on-frame platform to a more modern unibody setup, but the new version is still available with rear-wheel drive. Motivation comes from two powerful engines: a 3.6-liter V-6 with 290 hp and a Hemi V-8 with 360. We’ve now sampled both powertrains and declare the Durango Dodge’s best product outside of the new Charger.

The latest 5.0-liter Mustang GT is truly fantastic, but we can’t help thinking it could somehow be better. If only it had more power, aero tweaks, less sound deadening, optional Recaro seats, and a race-prepped suspension. Oh, and an extra-hard-core variant with no rear seats and an even racier chassis setup. What? That perfectly describes the 444-hp 2012 Mustang Boss 302 and Boss 302 Laguna Seca. Sweet. More sweetness: The Boss even has an optional track mode, which alters throttle sensitivity, cam timing, and more, and it’s activated by a Cold War–style red key. Did we mention the car looks great?

The forecasted low temperature for the town of Hell, Michigan, on this November night: a below-freezing 30 degrees. So it’s perhaps appropriate that the 2011 Hyundai Elantra is on our list of faves. But the new compact car from Hyundai has earned it: It’s a great-looking little car, cribbing styling from its sharp big bro, the Sonata, while dispensing with that car’s catfish-inspired front end. The Elantra promises 40 mpg on the highway—in all trims, not just a special fuel-saver spec—and is poised to continue Hyundai’s streak of offering a lot of car for the money.

The title of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” could just as easily apply to the treatment Porsche gave to its thoroughly satisfying Cayman in creating the Cayman R. Well, you can add “lighter,” too. The manual-transmission Cayman R is said to slice 121 pounds from a similar Cayman S—141 pounds if you plump for the pricey lithium-ion battery—and the car receives a 10-hp boost (to 330), a standard limited-slip rear diff, a 0.8-inch suspension drop, and an all-business aero kit. Air conditioning and a stereo, which are for suckers, are strictly optional. At $67,250, this car ain’t cheap, but considering the fantastic dynamics of its open-air analogue, the ragtop Boxster spyder, the Cayman R should be one hell of a car.

Is Nissan’s all-wheel-drive, four-seat convertible crossover objectively one of the best vehicles at the 2010 L.A. auto show? “Absolutely!” says one strait-jacket-clad Car and Driver editor, talking to us from his padded cell. For the rest of us, and the world, the $47,000 Murano CrossCabriolet holds less appeal. But we feel it’s our duty to salute Nissan for its audacity in bringing such a bizarre, wild vehicle to market. Bravo, Nissan, bravo.